BlackDragon

That's not a work belt, it's a display belt. Beautifully done! When I first started making serious belts I made my brother-in-law a belt, it was one of my gun carry belts, but he wouldn't wear it unless he was going out somewhere nice. I told him to just wear it while he worked because I wanted it to be tested in the field. He has an excavating business so he's literary in the trenches all day. I finally just made him a second one and put some scratches in it so it didn't look as nice. lol

Another tip on searches. Most search engines have tabs under the search field. The first one is usually "All" this is the default tab, the second is usually "Images". Click on that an it'll show you the image search.

You can look up bag stiffeners in google. Here are a couple links that may help. https://www.rmleathersupply.com/collections/lining?utm_source=chatgpt.com https://springfieldleather.com/products/bontex-bag-stiffener?_pos=1&_psq=bag+sti&_ss=e&_v=1.0

Well done!

The bridle looks beautiful! When it comes to keyboard warriors, there's always someone that says how awful something is and how devastating it'll be if you continue the practice. The sky will always be falling for them. A very wise person once said "Haters gonna hate, hate, hate. So, shake it off, shake it off."

Yes AND you can cuss out your leather all day long without repercussions.

Oops.

Thanks!

Some people hate AI but for things like this it's pretty awesome. I told ChatGPT5 what I was looking for and attached your image and it came up with a few things. Some were nothing close but a couple hit directly to what you need. The first close match was the entire belt with that buckle out of Germany. https://www.guertel-nach-mass.de/belt-with-matt-silver-coloured-3-part-buckle-set-4cm-wide.html Another was a wholesale company in Spain. You can probably call or email them to see if they have some one in your area to buy from. https://zamakcerdan.com/gb/home/1907-hebilla-senora-pase-40.html

It came out really well. As far as cost you need to consider cost of each material. In your case 400cm for outer materal + 400cm of inner material, + thread, glue, dyes/paint, hardware, etc. You should also consider your overhead costs. What does it cost for rent, power, shipping costs (items you ship and items shipped to you), etc. And you need to consider man hours. What do you need to get paid hourly. So you need; Materials cost + Overhead cost + Time The biggest issue people have is figuring out what their time is worth. What you charge per hour should depend on on your level of ability. A person just starting out can't charge what a person doing this for 20 years could charge. So, If it took you one hour to make this then, with what you charged, your time is worth 9.50 an hour. If it took you 2hrs then you valued your time at 4.75/hr. You also have to figure out what people would be willing to pay for the item. For that same item if you were to charge $40/hr USD and it took 2hr to make, most people wouldn't buy it. You would have to market it to select few that have the money to spend. It's a delicate balance you have to find.

Hey that's pretty cool! What materials do you use? Do you have a wire in the brim? what did you do for the lining?

Thanks. I tend to be nick picky with the things I make. I'm always looking to improve, not only what I do but how I do things. The suede I used for the sweatband is too soft and tends get floppy, so when I take the hat off the band turns inside out. next hat I make I may buy the correct sweatband already made.

Thanks! This one was with my own pattern. I've made a hat before with a pattern from Dieselpunk but the hat didn't fit right so I redesigned it. His cowboy hat pattern is to round so presses one the front and back but leaves a gap on the sides.

This is really well done! I like how you tapered each piece symmetrically. The tooling is great! Leaves on one side and wood chips on the other. Great attention to detail.

Great way to save the project! Just the other day someone asked for a belt, when I ask for the belt size they said "about 30inches". I told them I couldn't make their belt if I dont have the correct measurement. I instructed them how to measure their current belt and it turned out to be 34". People are pretty vague when you're trying to get product info from them. What color do you want? Brown. What shade of brown? Like wood. What type of wood, like pine or mahogany? Yes

Ooooooh you going to prison! Maybe under the prison. All kidding aside, usually it's ok for something you're making for yourself and I wouldn't worry about it. Some companies get up tight about their products, like Disney, but for the most part it's ok.

Aquilim 315 sells for $30 32oz at Springfield Leather Barge sells for $32 32oz on Amazon Weldwood sells for $20 at my local Lowe's I have the same issue as TomE on the edges but I've been trying to control how thick I put it on at the edge, which is working out better

In my book that is not grade A. It almost looks like they let it dry in a roll and when you lay it flat it wrinkles. The color looks to dark as well, like it sat exposed to sunlight.

I've seen prices range $160 and up. Buckle guy sells python for $220

I believe the white one is python.

Antique is used as a top layer after the leather is dyed. The leather is tooled, then dyed to a color of your choice, then you add a coat of clear finish like Resist or Resolene, then add antique and wipe it down. This will leave the antique in the crevices. Then add another coat of your clear finish to lock in the antique. Trying to match dissimilar leathers is going to be really, really tough. If you're going to use chrome tan pick a color then try to match the vegtan the best you can. Using a contrasting vegtan can work perfectly as well. Take a dark brown chrome tan then add a light tan or natural vegtan, it will work well together. I found this on pintrest;

It came out great! I actually like the brown dyed thread in that area as it doesn't take away the flow of the pistol to holster.

8oz is pretty think for a wallet. I would go with 5oz, it will still tool but you'll have to use a lighter hand. For the interior I use either 2/3oz vegtan or English bridle. When tooling remember to use blue painters tape on the flesh side so help minimize stretching.

If you want to get completely technical about it, if you're doing everything with machines then, no. But what is "objects partly or entirely by hand."? How "partly by hand" makes someone an Artisan? The only machines I use are a sewing machine and a manual skiver, could I still be considered an Artisan? I also look at Artisan as "expensive" but that's why I said if I had a shop in an expensive area I could call myself that to bring in people with money to spend. If I were to call myself that in my current area people wouldn't come to my shop because they would think I was to expensive. It's marketing really. You make up a bunch of words in order to get people to buy your stuff. In the end people can use whatever term they want in order to define what they do. They just have to be able articulate to people what that term means because some people will still have questions for specifics. I've heard one person call themselves a leather smith. The term works, you understand that it means it's a person that works with leather but technically it's wrong. A smith is a person that works with metals; blacksmith, bladesmith, silversmith, etc Either way you would still have to define what that means to a person. When people ask me what I do I just say "I own a leather shop" or I just say "I'm a leather worker". It opens a conversation and I expand by saying I make most anything except saddle and shoes. I used to scuba dive a lot. I became a dive master rather quickly and worked weekends with an instructor doing scuba classes. I also did dive tours at the beach for divers that weren't familiar with the area. Some friends, for whatever reason, would introduce me as a professional scuba diver. I'm not sure why they introduced me that way, I only did it on the weekends, but I would cringe when they did. To me it sounds kind of... off putting? elitist maybe? I'm just a guy that likes to work with leather and I make some money at it.

One problem with coming up with another name is eventually it'll become co-opted by someone that wants to seem like a professional. Leathercrafter was a professional name but now it sounds like you may do it like a hobby and make knick knacks. If I had a shop in an expensive area and wanted to bring in people that had plenty of money to spend I would probably call myself a Leather Artisan. I don't do anything different but it sounds more high end so it may attract more high end customers.